Ex-U.S. envoy to Haiti says he quit after learning about deportations

A former senior State Department official who oversaw the Biden administration’s Haiti policy said he resigned last month after learning on the news about the deportation of Haitian migrants. 

Daniel Foote, the former U.S. special envoy for Haiti, said during his testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Thursday that the administration did not consult him about the deportation of thousands of Haitian migrants who sought shelter last month in the border town of Del Rio, Texas. 

Foote’s revelation comes as President Joe Biden’s approval ratings have fallen, in part because of the way his administration has handled migrants and the border. Images of the Haitians, who took refuge under a bridge in Del Rio, turbocharged backlash against Biden’s immigration policies.

“Nobody asked me about the deportations,” Foote said Thursday. “I found out about it on the news just like the rest of us.” 

Shortly after seeing news about the deportations, Foote said, he learned more about the Biden administration’s plan to deport the majority of the Haitian migrants who were in Del Rio. 

“I just couldn’t be associated with the treatment and just the knee-jerk decision to send them back to Port au Prince,” he said at the hearing. 

Foote resigned last month, just two months after Biden appointed him to the position, following the shocking assassination of former Haitian President Jovenel Moise. 

In his scathing resignation letter, he said that his decision was in response to the Biden administration’s deportation of Haitian migrants. Foote called the administration’s policy approach to Haiti “deeply flawed” and said his recommendations have been ignored and dismissed.

The State Department has since denied that Foote’s proposals were ignored. White House press secretary Jen Psaki also said last month that Foote had “ample opportunity to raise concerns about migration during his tenure” but “he never did so.”

She added that there had been “disagreements” within the Biden administration over its policy response to the surge of Haitian migrants.

During his testimony Thursday, Foote slammed the administration’s use of deportation and noted the dire situation in Haiti.

“Deportation back to Haiti is not the answer right now. I am not saying that impending migrants who are in illegal status shouldn’t be deported, but Haiti is too dangerous,” Foote said at the hearing.

“Deportation in the short term is not going to make Haiti more stable. In fact, it’s going to make it worse,” he said.

U.S. authorities have encountered nearly 30,000 migrants in Del Rio since Sept. 9, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said late last…